Label-damper.



, PATENTED JULY 3, 1906. A. F. H. STEPHENS.

LABEL DAMPER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 28, 1905. RENEWED JUNE 2, 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LABEL-DAMPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1906.

Application filed April 28, 1905. Renewed June 2, 1906. Serial No.319,923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT FRANCIS HAM- BLY STEPHENS, chemist, a subjectof the King of Great Britain, residing in Commercial street, Camborne,in the county of Cornwall, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Label-Dampers, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to label-dampers of the roller type constructedso that the degree of moisture passing to the roller can'be regulatedwith great nicety as desired.

The label-damper is provided with a body or reservoir for containingwater, having one or more outlets in which suitable wicks are placed.The ends of the wicks pass through apertures in the front of the body orreservoir and rest upon a sheet of absorbent material, which is heldagainst the front of the reservoir by a movable plate operated bynut-and-screw adjustment. The lower end of the absorbent materialtouches the circumference of a roller carried in suitable bearingsafiixed to or forming part of the frame.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved labeldamping device, and Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line2 2.

The body or reservoir (1 of the device is provided with a screw-cap aclosing a fillingaperture, and with a socket a to receive a suitablehandle. The apertures a forming outlets for the water, are located atthe lower part of the reservoir nearest the roller 0 and are preferablyrather larger than the wicks b, so that the water is fed by gravity whenthe device is in use, but is fed by capillary attraction through thewicks b when the device is not in use and is laid down resting on thetop plate a*, with the roller 0 uppermost. By this means the roller 0 isalways kept moist and ready for use.

The absorbent material is in the form of a flat pad I), against whichrest the ends of the wicks, the lower end of the pad touching thecircumference of the roller 0. The plate 11, which is adapted foradjustment in any suitable manner against and away from the pad 1),extends across the front of the reservoir, to which it is secured, forinstance, by the screwed pins (1, which are fast on the reservoir-frontand pass through the pad I) and plate d, being secured by the wing-nuts(1 By adjustment of the nuts (1 the pad I) is more or less compressed bythe plate (1 against the fixed front of the reservoir, and the quantityof moisture passing through said pad is thus regulated. Preferably theplate 11 and the lower part of the reservoirfront are provided withoppositely-disposed flanges, such as d and (L to allow for thehorizontal play of the lower end of the pad I) in either direction,according to whether the device is rolled backward or forward.

It will be understood that the device is applicable for damping otherthings besides lables-for example, cachets, envelops, stamps, tickets,and letter-copying sheets.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

A damping device for labels or for analogous purposes comprising areservoir having apertures in the lower part to feed the liquid bygravitation, a roller, bearings in which said roller is mounted beneathsaid reservoir, an absorbent pad, a plate adjustably mounted on thefront of the reservoir and adapted to compress the pad, and wicks in theaforesaid apertures to feed the liquid by capillary attraction to thepad when the device is turned roller uppermost, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in presence of twosubscribing witnesses, this 7th day of April, 1905.

' ALBERT FRANCIS HAMBLY STEPHENS.

Witnesses:

R. BARCLAY Fox, W. H. DANIELL

